Reports

Guided a 6 hour day on Cayuga Lake with Gordon.  He is primarily a fly-fisherman so that’s what we focused on.  Conditions were excellent today with light south winds and ample sunshine.  The launch at Myers is still debris-laden but at least the water level remains good for easy launching.   Water temperature is 49 degrees, which is a prime temperature for trout and salmon.  Gordon had quite a bit of action today mostly on smaller salmonids.  He easily had 8 to 10 hits in our first 3 hours.  He downsized his fly and landed a pretty rainbow that was 13.5″ and stocked.  Other fish that followed included browns.  He hooked and dropped another silver fish as well – probably around the 15″ mark.

I spent the last two hours of day having Gordon throw some blade baits on spinning gear.  In short order he managed two nice hard fighting lakers that both ran 24″.  Last fish of the day was a 17 1/2″ landlocked salmon.

What’s the takeaway today?  I have been very encouraged to see some young fish around – mainly rainbows and browns, but also a few salmon.  That generally bodes well for future fishing.  We didn’t spend much time working the bottom with gear, but like last year, a few lakers appear to be working the nearshore area, likely targeting round gobies.  The water is super clear and the gobies appear to have eaten up most of the nearshore mussels.  Might that result in salmon being more surface oriented this winter or will they move out looking for gobies?  That’s a question I hope to answer this winter.  Angling Zone friend Zach had reported some good laker jigging action today, so hopefully we are getting back to a normal “bite” for this time of year.

My availability is pretty much wide open from here on through the winter.  If you see a day that looks good to you, let me know and I should be able to make it happen.  This is a great time of year for pike fishing as well as trout/salmon casting and lake trout jigging.  If the State Launch remains open on Skaneateles Lake, I can still do bass/multi-species trips there as well.